Booking Through Thursday: Moving

BTT asked: My best friend is moving across country, heading back to the East Coast for the first time after years of living in California, and one of the things she’s lamented was the whole packing-the-books thing. Having moved a few years ago myself (whittling down my 3000-volume library to 2000-volumes and still ending up with something like 50 boxes of books), I sympathize.

So … the question is–what kind of moving experiences have you had with your books? (Or, just in general if you’ve got good Moving Day stories–and who doesn’t?) Did having to pack and move your books cause any changes in your book-collecting habits? Make you wish you had everything on an e-reader? Feel free to discuss! (grin)

My answer: This question is totally relevant to me as a reader because this is one of the reasons I rarely buy books and don’t have many at home any more. When I was in college I had quite a few books and after moving 7 different times to different dorms, apartments, and even out of state for a semester where I had to fly there, I got tired of carting around books.

After college I got a job abroad and took quite a few books with me, then bought more there and brought those home. Books are super heavy and when you’re flying it’s easy to go over the weight limit with your bags. So that pretty much was the end of me trying to take books with me. I also got rid of most of my books that I had at home.

Now I rarely buy books and there’s only a handful of books that I’m actually keeping and will re-read. Now when I travel I just take my Kindle which is perfect for that. So yes, I know how hard it can be traveling or moving with books and I’ve already had enough of the hassle so it’s not something I see myself doing again anytime soon!

What about you? Do you have any moving or traveling stories? Have you found an easy way to transport your book collection?